Pleasure railway



Feb. 24,1925.

W. F. MANGELS PLEASURE RAlLWAY Filed May a, 1921 3 s eets-sheet 2 I Y W INVENTOR zmF/Vawzz;

WITNESSE8 A TTORNE Y8 W. F.'MANGELS PLEASURE RAILWAY Filed May 6,v 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Willi/Ill 1, b v J will! ATTORNE Y8 Patented Feb. 24, 1925.

WILLIAM F. MANGELS, OF BROO'KLYN, NEW YORK.

PLEASURE RAILWAY.

Application filed my 6, 1921. Serial Nofiicmss.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VVILLIAM F. MANGELS,

a citizen of the United States, and a resi- I dent of the city of New York, Goney Island, borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Pleasure Railway, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The invention relates to amusement devices, such as are used in pleasure resorts, exhibition grounds, fairs, parks and other places, and its object is to provide a new and improved pleasure railway arranged to provide an exhilarating ride for the passengers and to afford considerable amusement to the passengers and to the onlookers.

Another object is to enable a passenger in charge of one car to force or avoid a practically harmless collision or bumping action with another car going in the opposite direction.

Another object is to provide a large number of cars traveling over a long course confined in a comparatively small area.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction, as hereinafter shown and described and then specifically pointed out in the claims.

taking up the slack in the propelling chain; a

Figure 4 is a sectional side elevation of the same on the line 44 of Figure 3 Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional side elevation of another of the guide pulleys, the section being on the line 5-5 of Figure 1;

Figure 6 is an enlarged sectional side elevation of one of the cars and its propelling means;

Figure 7 is an inverted plan view of the same;

Figure 8 is an enlarged cross section of a portion of the platform and guideway;

Figure 9 is an enlarged cross section of the bumping railor rim of a car; and

Figure 10 is an inverted plan view of a car provided with a modified form of the steering mechanism. 7

A suitably constructed platform 20 is supported by pillars 21a short distance above the ground, fioorior other support 22, and the platform 20 is provided with an endless guideway 25 mainly in the shape of a groove formed of spaced angle irons 26 and a bottom plate 27.,as plainly shown. in Figure 8.

In the guideway 25 and resting on thebottom plate 27 thereof is arranged an endless flexible propelling member 28, preferably in the form of a chain oricable. The guide- Way 25 consists of a number of parallel runs extending lengthwise of theplatform 20, and-leading to guide wheels 30, 31, 32, 33 and 34, around which passes the endless propelling member 28. A portion of the guideway 25 is disposed transversely and extends from the guide wheel 31 to the guide wheel 32, as will be readily. understood by reference to Figure 1. In case the propelling member 28 is in the form of a chain, as shown in the drawings, then the guide wheels 30,31, 32, 33 and 34 are inthe form,

of sprocket wheels, and one of the said guide wheels (as shown the guide wheel 34) is provided at the under side with a bevel gear wheel 40 in mesh with a pinion 41 secured on a shaft 42 journaled in suitable bearings 43 mounted onthe support 22, and the said shaft extends to one side of the platform 20 and is provided at its outer end with a pulley 44oonnected by a belt 45 with a pulley 46 on the shaft of a motor 47 of any approved construction preferably, however, of the electric type. It will be noticed that when the motor 47 is running, a rotary motion is transmitted by the gearing described to the guide wheel 34 to impart a traveling motion to the flexible propelling member 28 thereby causing the latter to follow the endless guideway'25 in which the propelling member is confined. It is understood that the guide wheels 30, 3]., 32, 33 and 34 are disposed horizontally in corresponding openings in the platform 20 and with their upper faces flush with the platform 20, and the said guide wheels except the guide wheel 30 are mounted to turn on suitable pivots 48 rising from the support 22 (see Figure 5).

The propelling member 28 is provided with spaced upwardly extending pivot pins 60 each pivotally connected at its upper end with a bearing filsecured to the under side owing to the pivotal connection with' the.

corresponding pivot pin 60. Each of the cars 63 is preferably designed for accommodating two persons but-I donotlimit myself to this particular arrangement. Each 0211363 is provided with-=a steeringimechanismto enable an occupant of the'car to steer the same sidewise totheright or'to; the left during the forwarditravelingiofvthe car. Forthe purpose mentioned a steering wheel 70 extends with-in reachof an occupantof the car 63, and thesteering wheel is attached to the upper-end of a steering shaft Tl journaled in a suitable: bearing -72 ;arranged on the bottom ti21-of the car 63; Onthe lower end of the steering-shaft 71 is secured a bevel gear -wheel -73 'in mesh with a bevel segment 74 mounted to turn on attached to a vertically disposed stud 4 the: car bottom 62;" On -the-underside: of

the segment 7% is secured a-transverse steering arm- 76 pivotally connected-at its ends bylinlcs 7 to the frames 79 of therear caster wheels 65, and which frames are pivotedat S0 to the under side of thecar-bottom62. Itrwill be noticed that when the steering wheel is turned, a swinging movement is-gi-ven to the frames 79 of the caster wheels '65'jto steer the car either to the right or to the left according to the direction in which-the steering wheel 70 is turned at the time by the occupant of the car.

In'prder to limit the sidewise swinging movement of each car 63, the following arrangement is made: To the under side of the rear end of the car botto1n62is secured a transversely extending radius rod 90, the center of which coincides with the center of the corresponding pivot pin 60 used for pulling the car 63 along. This radius bar is slidingly engaged by a ring "91] on the forward end of a chain 92 attached at its rear end to a bracket 93 mounted to swing on a pin 94 attached to the propelling member 28 a short distance in the rear of the car 68. It'will be noticed that the car 63 can be steered to either side until the ring 91 reaches the corresponding end of the radius rod 90 thus preventing the car from completely swinging around on the pivot pin 60 asthe fulcrum. I

In practice, the longitudinal runs of the guideway 25 are spaced apart, and the cars 7 with transversearms 781att-ached- 63 are designed to cause two cars traveling in opposite directions on adjacent runs to bump one against-the other if correspondingly steered toward each other by the occupants of the cars. The cars are preferably provided with; oblique sides, that is, diverging from the front rearwardly and as *thecars onadjacent runs travel in opposite directions they can be readily steered into sidewise bumping contact one with the other at points intermediate the front and rear of thecars. In order to ease the bumping contact the cars are preferably provided along the edges. of the bottom 62' with bumpers of rubber or other suitable resilient material preferably protected by a rail 101 of channel iron attached to the bot-- tom, at the front andthe front side portions 1 by fastening devices 102,- thusleaving the a back and the rear side portions of the rail --lOl free to yield when two cars bump to- 'gether. The platform 20 is provided with fixed bumping members preferably in the form of'posts, erected on the platform adjacent the side's thereof and extending into the path. ofthe cars if the latter are steered outwardly during the time the travel along an outermostrun. i

In order to keep the propelling member i 28 taut the following arrangen'ient is made: The guide wheel 30 is'mounted toturn'on carriage which ismovable longitudi- I nally on a suitable support 12l'rest'ing on the support 22 (see Figures 8 and a); The "front end of the carriage 120 is provided -with a rod 122 extending through !a bear- -ing 123 formingpart oft-he platform 20. On the rod/122 is coiled a spring 125 rest- 'ing with one endon' the bearing123 and abutting at its other end on a nut 126 screwing on the outer threaded end the rod -132. The spring 125 tends to pull the carriage 120 from the right to-the left thus causing the guide wheel SO'to take. up any i slack that may occur in the propelling member 28. The front portion of the carriage 120 is flush with the top of the guide wheel 30, and the extreme forward portion of the carriage 120 is protected by a covering plate 130 attached to the bearing 123'to prevent improper traveling of the caster wheels {G l and65' of the cars (53 at-the time-the latter swing around the guidewvheel 30; A covering plate 131 is attached to the platform 20and extends over the rear half portion of the guide wheel 30 to' allow forward 'or backward traveling of the --carriage- 120 withoutproducing a gap between the can Ctll'S Zion riage and the platform 20-to insure :proper traveling of the cars around the guide wheel 30. The carriage 120 is provided with fric of the said guide wheel 30 on the carriage- 120. Similar friction rollers 136 mounted on blocks 137 provide supports for the other guide wheels 31, 32, 33 and 84.

The steering device for each car 63 instead of being manipulated by only a single occupant of the car may be arranged to be controlled by two occupants, and for this purpose the following arrangement (shown in Figure 10) is provided: Two handles 140, 141 are secured on the upper ends of steering shafts 142, 143 mounted onthe car, and the lower ends of the said shafts 1 12, 1 13 are provided with bell crank levers 144:, 1 15 connected by links 1 16, 1 1? with transverse rods 1 18, 1 19 attached to the frames 79 of the rear caster wheels 65. The bell crank levers 1 1 1 and 145 are pivotally connected with each other by a link 150 to cause the bell crank levers and consequently the steering shafts 142 and 1-13 and the handles 1 10 and 141 to move in unison with each other and likewise the rear caster wheels 65. The handles 1 0 and 1&1 are taken hold of by the two occupants of a car who may or may not manipulate the handles in unison, and if not in unison a consequent uncertain steering of the car either to the right or to the left is the result.

It is understood that when the pleasure railway is running, the cars 63 are carried along over the platform 20 by the propelling member 28 following the endless guideway 25. As the cars 63 are free to swing on the pivots they can be readily steered sidewise by the occupants of the cars, and cars on adjacent runs of the guideway 25 and traveling in opposite directions can be steered so as to bump one into the other thus adding to the excitement of the exhilarating ride. It may happen that the occupant of a car in trying to avoid collision with another car on one side of the guideway is liable to bump into the car on the other side of the guideway. l/Vhen two cars bump together they are liable to swing in opposite directions, owing to the bumping impact, without danger of producing any injurious effects on the occupants of the car except perhaps a slight shaking up.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1- 1. In a pleasure railway, a platform pro vided with an endless guideway having a plurality of approximately parallel runs, a plurality of cars mounted to travel on the said platform, propelling means guided in the said guideway and pivotally connected with the front end of each car, a steering gear mounted on each car and under the control of at least one occupant of a car to steer the latter sidewise across the said guideway, a radius guide bar at the rear end of each car, and a flexible connection slida ble on the said guide bar and connected with the said propelling means;

2. In a pleasure railway, a platform pro vided with an endless guide ay having a plurality of approxinuitely parallel runs, a plurality of cars mounted to travel on said platform over and across said guideway, propelling means provided in said guideway and movable in opposite directions in adjacent runs, said cars having only a pivotal connection at one end to said propelling means whereby the same are propelled over said platform and allowed to swing sidewise while traveling thereon, the cars on adjacent runs traveling in opposite directions and being adapted to bump one against the other when swinging about their pivotal connec tions, and means connecting the rear of each car with said propelling means to limit the sidewise movement of the car.

3. In a pleasure railway, a platform provided with an endless guideway in the form of a groove, guide wheels positioned at intervals about said groove, an endless propelling member in said groove and passing around said guide wheels, means for driving one of said wheels for moving said propelling member along said groove, spaced pivots projecting from said propelling member, cars mounted to travel on said platform and over said groove and pivotally connected to said pivots, and means connecting the rear of each car with said propelling member to limit the sidewise movement of the car.

4. In a pleasure railway, a platform provided with an endless guideway, guide wheels operatively associated with said guideway, means driving one of said guide wheels, an endless propelling member in said groove and passing around said guide wheels and operated thereby to move in said guideway, spaced pivots projecting from said propelling member, cars mounted to travel on said platform and pivotally connected at their front ends with said pivots, a steering gear mounted on each car to steer the latter sidewise across said 'guideway, and means connecting the rear of each car with said propelling member to limit the sidewise movement of the car.

5. In a pleasure railway, a platform provided with an endless guideway, a plurality of guide wheels associated with said guideway, an endless flexible propelling member movable in said guideway and around said wheels, cars mounted to travel on said platform and pivotally connected to said propelling member, a movable carriage supporting one of said guide wheels, and means associated with said carriage for yieldingly maintaining the same and said guide wheel in position to prevent slack in said flexible propelling member.

6. In a pleasure railway, a platform provided with an endless guideway, an endless propelling member movable in said guideway, a guide wheel about which said propelling member extends, cars mounted to travel on said platform and pivotally connected to said propelling member, a carriage movable longitudinally of said platform and supporting said guide Wheel, and means for yieldably preventing movement of said can riage in one direction on said platform.

'7. In a pleasure railway, a platform provided with an endless guideway, an endless rn'opelling member movable in said guide- Way, a guide Wheel about which said propelling member extends, cars mounted to travel on said platform and pivotally-connected to said propelling member, a carriage movable longitudinally of. said platform and supporting said guide Wheel, means for yield ably preventingmovement of said carriage in one direction on said platform, and a cow ering plate carried by said platform and IQX tending partially over said guide Wlieelv XVILLIAM F. NI A'NG 11th. 

